RIMs Response to Open Letter

An Open Letter to RIMs senior management was published anonymously on the web today and it was attributed to an unnamed person described as a high level employee. It is obviously difficult to address anonymous commentary and it is particularly difficult to believe that a high level employee in good standing with the company would choose to anonymously publish a letter on the web rather than engage their fellow executives in a constructive manner, but regardless of whether the letter is real, fake, exaggerated or written with ulterior motivations, it is fair to say that the senior management team at RIM is nonetheless fully aware of and aggressively addressing both the companys challenges and its opportunities.

RIM recently confirmed that it is nearing the end of a major business and technology transition. Although this transition has taken longer than anticipated, there is much excitement and optimism within the company about the new products that are lined up for the coming months. There is a fundamental business reality however that following an extended period of hyper growth (during which RIM nearly quadrupled in size over the past 5 years alone), it has become necessary for the company to streamline its operations in order to allow it to grow its business profitably while pursuing newer strategic opportunities. Again, RIMs management team takes these challenges seriously and is actively addressing the situation. The company is thankfully in a solid business and financial position to tackle the opportunities ahead with a solid balance sheet (nearly $3 billion in cash and no debt), strong profitability (RIMs net income last quarter was $695 million) and substantial international growth (international revenue in Q1 grew 67% over the same quarter last year). In fact, while growth has slowed in the US, RIM still shipped 13.2 million BlackBerry smartphones last quarter (which is about 100 smartphones per minute, 24 hours per day) and RIM is more committed than ever to serving its loyal customers and partners around the world.

Wow, most generic and "business-y" response ever. They basically just pulled out big numbers without even mentioning any of the issues the open-latter exposed. This sounds like something that keep on a document file then copy and paste whenever someone questions the company in any way, shape or form. R.I.P RIM, next time choose only one CEO and make sure he/she is actually competent and has an IQ above that of a dry sponge.

I guess I got my wish. Unfortunately, I was let down. What a cop out. How is it that they are addressing the issues by continuing to beat around the bush and move ahead with plans that seem distant and unfinished.

it is particularly difficult to believe that a high level employee in good standing with the company would choose to anonymously publish a letter on the web rather than engage their fellow executives in a constructive manner, but regardless of whether the letter is real, fake, exaggerated or written with ulterior motivations, it is fair to say that the senior management team at RIM is nonetheless fully aware of and aggressively addressing both the companys challenges and its opportunities.

Hard to believe that someone doesn't want to present ideas to a pair of CEOs that don't realize wtf is going on and would probably fire him/her for saying these things they don't even realize? Nah, not hard to believe at all.

Play it safe again RIM.

Also, they are talking about RIM right now on CNBC. Heavy criticism going on.

I don't see how they could have responded any differently. If they ignore it they'll be criticized and unless they acknowledge every problem listed there as correct then they'll be criticized as being in denial. Acknowledging every problem as correct would push their share price even lower because people would say that they either understand the position they're in and are ignoring it or that if they acknowledge this than they're in worse trouble.

This was the only acceptable response. Yes we're aware of the issues and challenges facing us and we're working to resolve them.

Some smart people on here are starting to sound stupid. What are they supposed to do. Answer in public to an anonymous letter? rely? They need to change things but we don't get to see anything until its long finished. I've seen companies that go bankrupt face less BS from the public.

RIM takes the term "gibberish" and elevates it to a new art form. Their "response" was less of a response to criticism than it was random musings about how well they THINK they are doing. RIM's management is, in a word, INEPT.

Some smart people on here are starting to sound stupid. What are they supposed to do. Answer in public to an anonymous letter? rely? They need to change things but we don't get to see anything until its long finished. I've seen companies that go bankrupt face less BS from the public.

They don't need to put out long statement or challenge the letter point by point. But they should've put out a statement showing that they understand that there is a problem, that they are taking it seriously, and that they are working to address the problems. Their statement didn't come close to doing that.

Some smart people on here are starting to sound stupid. What are they supposed to do. Answer in public to an anonymous letter? rely? They need to change things but we don't get to see anything until its long finished. I've seen companies that go bankrupt face less BS from the public.

Then why reply at all?

Whether the letter is real or fake, a number of valid issues were raised, and investors deserve answers. They are applying the same lacksidasical approach to PR as they did to the emerging threat of the iPhone and Android devices.

Some smart people on here are starting to sound stupid. What are they supposed to do. Answer in public to an anonymous letter? rely?

Actually, that's exactly what they just did.

Originally Posted by Dapper37

They need to change things but we don't get to see anything until its long finished.

But see if that's their strategy, why did they release the PlayBook when they did? Regardless of how good you believe it to be, it certainly isn't "finished" in a manner similar to any of RIM's other successful products.

Originally Posted by Dapper37

I've seen companies that go bankrupt face less BS from the public.

Exactly. Those companies received less "BS," and went bankrupt. So, since "less BS" didn't work, investors and analysts are trying something new; it's called "more BS."

it would have been better to be silent!
the response looks like an Auto response on an email

Well said, deRussett - very well said!

Their response is a GREAT illustration of a lack of the "inspired leadership" discussed in the TED Talks video one of the links in the letter sends you to. RIM's response was so incredibly uninspiring I felt the air being sucked out of the room I'm in.

The only thing I can compare it to is a sales manager I had a few jobs ago, where his year end speech described our results as "one year we make our number, the next we don't, and we manage to keep our jobs.". We were getting our a$$e$ handed to us by the competition, and about a year later our US parent shrunk the local office from 70+ people to 13 - and maintained the same volume of business.

The lack of inspired leadership will KILL a company. Many good people will leave, and the good ones that stay out of loyalty will end up not caring any more. Once the people go, all you have is IP that others will want to buy.

I think no matter what they would do in response to the very odd letter y'all would find fault. I honestly don't think the letter came from an employee let alone a senior executive. None of us know or have any way of knowing actually. We can all guess and then pretend we all know so much more than a couple guys who built a multi-billion dollar company. I agree with the criticism by the way. They need to do better fast but I also think this has become a piling on. While that complaint letter is most likely accurate, Mike and Jim said as much when they gave the quarter numbers, I doubt the validity of the source being a high ranking RIM executive especially given the BGR choice for publishing. Anyway that's my take. I mean this whole thread is the same cast of characters for the most part doing their daily pile on and thanking each other in the process with a few exceptions of course.

I'm surprised they had a response to begin with. I don't think I'm alone when I say that I had high expectation for their response and was let down at how very little confidence I was left with after reading it. :/

I don't see how they could have responded any differently. If they ignore it they'll be criticized and unless they acknowledge every problem listed there as correct then they'll be criticized as being in denial. Acknowledging every problem as correct would push their share price even lower because people would say that they either understand the position they're in and are ignoring it or that if they acknowledge this than they're in worse trouble.

This was the only acceptable response. Yes we're aware of the issues and challenges facing us and we're working to resolve them.

How about a simple :

"We've read the latter and appreciate how hard it must have been for someone to write it. Obviously, they care.

So do we. Watch us over the next several months. You'll be amazed at what you see.

"The buck stops here" - and we're listening."

signed : Mike and Jim
...

Add some empathy. Add some emotion. Add some inspiration. Add some leadership.

it is particularly difficult to believe that a high level employee in good standing with the company would choose to anonymously publish a letter on the web rather than engage their fellow executives in a constructive manner,

HA HA! Yeah and the alternative is dis-employment or demotion.

Unfortunately the typical upper management response to things like this is to task security to find out who did it and see that they are silenced by finding some "goods" on them like using the computer for personal reasons, rather than address the complaints. A witch hunt that is probably going on as we type.

Hence, anonymity.

If this employee felt this had to be done anonymously, then clearly there is no channel in RIM"s corporate culture to "engage their fellow executives in a constructive manner" (without career repercussions).